


A Distant Memory

by himawaridreams



Category: fault (Visual Novels)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Lullabies, Mhakna Gramura and Fairy Bell references, Singing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-20
Updated: 2018-04-20
Packaged: 2019-04-25 12:26:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14378625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/himawaridreams/pseuds/himawaridreams
Summary: On the night before her Breaking-In ceremony, Selphine suggests something that Ritona's not so keen on to help her sleep.





	A Distant Memory

**Author's Note:**

> Hi again! This fic is set in Ritona and Selphine's past, in which Selphine would be anywhere 6-8 and Ritona would be 11-13. This idea has been on my mind for quite a while, dating back to mid-to-late 2016/early 2017 after seeing an AiD ask.fm ask. I'm so glad that I've finally gotten it down in writing now-- phew!
> 
> Please enjoy~! :^)

Tensions were high the night before Selphine began her Breaking-In process, the castle thrumming with whispered expectations and probing eyes alike. It seemed like a miracle if you were able to find any quietude amid the pelting of inquiries left and right, everyone and their pikomou eager to hear the crown princess’s feelings on the occasion. The castle was so bustling, in fact, that Ritona could not breathe a sigh of relief until the moment she closed the double doors to Selphine’s bedroom.

...Or so she thought.

As soon as Selphine was tucked safely underneath her all-consuming duvet, fingers peeking over the edges and mouth playing peekaboo, it was evident she was restless. Ritona knew this without a shadow of a doubt. If you stayed around someone long enough, especially the body language prone Selphine, you would instantly notice something was amiss.

“What’s the matter, Selphine?” Ritona asked in concern, even though she had a hunch about what was making her such a bundle of nerves.

Eyes widening, Selphine froze at the sudden question, looking as if she just walked into an interrogation room instead of her bedroom. In spite of that, she recovered a beat later, bleating out, “N-Nothing’s the matter! My legs just won’t… stop moving, is all!”

Sighing, Ritona saw right through her unconvincing attempt at reassurance. Stepping over to take a seat on her bed, her rear bumped up against her legs. Turning her back, she firmly gripped one of Selphine’s shaky legs, succeeding in stabilizing it for the time being.

“You know,” she began, staring Selphine dead in the eye, “restless legs are just one symptom of being nervous-- so much so that you wouldn’t be able to calm down.”

After being dealt that formidable blow, Selphine deflated considerably, like Ritona personally brandished a needle and popped her inflated ego balloon. Pouting, she acquiesced with a dejected “I guess you win this round, Ritona.”

Following Ritona’s prompting, Selphine explained halfheartedly why she couldn’t settle down, dancing around the reason until she earned a stern glare from her listener. Not wanting to upset Ritona and risk the possibility of her cheeks being stretched she surrendered again-- for real now.

“All right, all right, I admit it! Maybe I wasn’t being entirely honest with you, okay?” Selphine said, pouting in displeasure that she was found out.

“And?” Ritona replied pointedly, raising an eyebrow.

“A-And I was nervous because of the Breaking-In ceremony, okay!?”

Selphine stuck her tongue out childishly as she flung her covers over her head in the blink of an eye, retreating under them to sulk for the remainder of the night. She didn’t even budge when Ritona poked the Selphine-shaped mound that was burrowed under the blankets. Heaving a sigh, Ritona knew from this development alone it was going to be a lengthy and taxing night.

Trying to pry the covers away from Selphine’s surprisingly strong grip was a bust, as was poking her ticklish spots beneath them. The latter only won muffled snickering from her; that was not the ideal victory she was hoping for.

With her options slim and her patience growing even slimmer, she decided to ask the sleep-deprived princess how she could alleviate her uneasiness. “If there was one way I could help you, what would that be?”

This proposition seemed to do the trick. Selphine emerged from her impenetrable blanket cocoon, metamorphosing from a cagey disposition to that of a beaming, twinkly-eyed child. The change was so startlingly sudden it almost induced whiplash in her, however.

“Are you really going to help me _ree-lacks_ before the ceremony tomorrow, Ritona!?” Selphine cheered in unrepressed glee, tripping over one of her words in the process.

Unable to resist returning a fond smile at her contagious glee, Ritona nodded. “That’s right. But it’s ‘ _relax_ ’, not ‘ _ree-lacks_ ’. Pronunciation counts for a future queen, remember that.”

Turning her nose up and crossing her arms in mock hurt, she flapped a hand quickly in dismissal. “Yeah, yeah! Just can we quit with the judging of my talking and get to the helping part?”

“And in what way would you like me to help you?” Ritona inquired, good intentions in her heart.

If only she knew this seemingly innocent girl she ardently wanted to help was going to ruthlessly stomp on her heart with a smile on her face.

“How about… you _sing_ for me, Ritona? I’m sure a lullaby from you would have me to sleep in no time!”

Exercising all the willpower she had fortified from years and years of rigorous training under her grandfather’s tutelage, Ritona took an unsteady breath through her nostrils to place her primitive urge to strangle Selphine in a cognitive chokehold.

_Inhale… exhale. Inhale… exhale. Inhale… exhale._

Once she was certain she was not going to snap at a very young and very rambunctious princess, she calmly asked her to repeat herself.

“Could you say that again, please? My ears might have been playing tricks on me.”

Shaking her head vigorously, Selphine beamed brighter at Ritona’s impending diaphragm doom.

“You heard me right! Yep, yep, yeppers!” she confirmed in elation, absolutely over the moon with this turn of events. “The stage is all yours, Superstar Diva Cottonne!”

Massaging her temples, she tried (and failed) to stave off the disturbing mental images of her flouncing around as the beloved character from Alissyn Rievegh’s children’s book, _Mhakna Gramura and Fairy Bell_. What Selphine saw in that haughty Cottonne still remained a mystery to her.

“While I’m painfully aware of how much you love Cottonne--”

“Superstar Diva Cottonne!” Selphine corrected with a huff.

“...Yes, _Superstar Diva Cottonne_ , I am not as gifted in the art of singing as her.” Ritona stated without room for debate, spearing her with a threatening glare. No matter the means, she had to stop Selphine in her tracks-- before she was _really_ forced into a concert for one!

Scowling at her with the authority of a dissatisfied producer, Selphine’s split ends practically spiked into devil horns, the malcontent breeding in the air enough to make Ritona shrink back.

“Okay, fine, okay! I’ll sing for you just this once. Please just… stop tearing my soul asunder with that glare that could put to shame even the gatekeeper of Enles Land.” she reasoned, knowing full well that she was going to regret this come morning. If Selphine had yet to begin the Breaking-In process, she would have feared that an Empress Syndrome episode was on its way. Small blessings.

The same scowl that had struck terror into Ritona’s nigh unshakable heart melted into a sweet smile, mirroring one of an angel who would never do something as unthinkable as scaring a dear friend. She sat up in her bed, straight as an arrow she would loose in archery practice, and gave her soon-to-be idol her undivided attention. This was most certainly going to be the highlight of her night, if not her entire life up to that point. It would go down in the history books as the moment when Ritona the Flawless became Ritona the Flawed.

Selphine drummed her fingers on her duvet, eyes sparkling as she waited for Ritona to overcome her stage fright, which she unknowingly inflicted upon her. Ritona, in turn, took a deep breath to keep herself from blowing her top, and paced over to stand in front of her footboard. Now in position to sing, there was no viable route of escape for her this far in. It was do or die time.

Clearing her throat, she closed her eyes and was comforted to find no anticipatory stares in the blanketing of darkness. She also was slightly unnerved not being able to recall the last occasion she sang, but she had to press on nonetheless. Humiliation would come later if she sounded like a deranged and maniacal Flora on a frying pan rampage (don’t ask).

“If I hear you mocking me-- making fun of me-- for this, mark my words, Selphine… I’ll make it so you never get to eat another pomegranate in your life. Ever.” Ritona warned, a solemn oath that she would not break. She did not want to be made the laughingstock of Rughzenhaide if her voice failed her.

“Sure! I won’t make fun of you! Go for it!” Selphine promised, still the very definition of jubilance.

...And sure enough, her voice failed her.

As soon as she sang the first note of a famous Vhastoralkan lullaby her grandfather would often sing to her when she was young, she knew it was over. Each individual note sounded like glass grating against glass, with each high note shrill like the screeching of that cat whose tail she stepped on, and each low note croaking like the ribbit of a diseased frog. There was no hope for her in the music industry. Ritona Reighnvhasta, dubbed “Miss Perfect” at everything, had met her match.

Once the curtains fell on her disconcerting concert, Selphine was silent for a few seconds. Then, without any warning, she giggled uncontrollably, slapping her hands on her bed. That was all it took for the scant remains of Ritona’s pride to wither up and die.

Hands twitching with unchecked rage, Ritona’s mouth stretched into a tight-lipped smile, her blood pressure rising by the millisecond. She prowled over to Selphine with an aura of bloodlust, causing her to gulp and raise her covers up to her mouth. Once she was right next to her, she grabbed a down-filled pillow from her bed, laughing darkly as she held it like it was a repurposed whip.

“I see my lullaby didn’t help you to fall asleep… in that case,” she drawled, magenta eyes boring into Selphine’s sapphire ones, “I’ll make it so that you’ll never wake up again, Princess.”

“Nononono! Ritona, it was a good song, a good song to annoy that meanie Miss Lhoa with--” Selphine froze after blabbing that last chunk of the sentence, the inevitability of her premature demise sinking in.

Ritona chuckled self-deprecatingly, nursing the countless festering wounds that her little imp of a friend had maimed her with so far. She took another step closer to the bed, pillow in smothering stance, and leaned over until there were mere centimeters between their faces.

“Oh? You think my singing is only good for annoying Miss Lhoa, hmm? Maybe you shouldn’t have annoyed _me_ in the first place and you would still have a fighting chance at ascending the throne.”

Selphine’s pounding heart leapt into her throat. It was the night before her Breaking-In ceremony that she would never forget the birth of Ritona’s signature evil glare.

“Kindly die.” she said in a saccharine tone, lunging forward with her pillow to muffle the incoming scream of Selphine.

~~~

In the morning when servants arrived to fetch Selphine in preparation for the ceremony, they discovered the two girls serenely slumbering together on the bed, the events of the night previous a distant memory.

**Author's Note:**

> “The thousand injuries of Selphine I had borne as I best could, but when she ventured upon insult I vowed revenge." -Ritona before smothering Selphine with a pillow
> 
> Talk to me more about fault on my Tumblr: ritzyvhasta! Thanks for reading! :^)


End file.
